Ohio Child Support Calculator

Ohio sets child support with an income-shares model: the statutory schedule (Ohio Revised Code 3119.021) gives a combined basic obligation for both parents’ incomes together, and each parent is responsible for their income share of it. Enter both incomes for an estimate.

How Ohio works the number out

The basic child support schedule in ORC 3119.021(B)(1) covers combined incomes from $8,400 to $300,000. This estimator applies the schedule’s own statutory formulas exactly — the same percentages the Revised Code prints — rather than a rounded copy of the table. Below the top of the schedule, ORC 3119.021(B)(2) protects a self-support reserve of $13,780.80 a year (116% of the 2016 federal poverty level for one person): if the schedule amount would leave the paying parent below that line, the obligation is reduced along a statutory sliding scale instead. If combined income is below the $8,400 floor, Ohio’s minimum order of $80 a month applies (ORC 3119.06, raised from $50 in 2024). Above $300,000 combined, the court decides case by case, but the order cannot be less than the $300,000 schedule amount unless the court gives reasons (ORC 3119.04).

Real orders also depend on things a simple estimator cannot see: income the court imputes to a voluntarily underemployed parent, other children either parent supports, spousal support, health insurance availability, and deviations. Treat the figure here as the guideline starting point, not the outcome.

How the basic obligation scales with income and children

The schedule’s combined basic obligation (before it is split between the parents, and before the self-support reserve adjustment) rises with combined income, but not in a straight line — it is a shrinking percentage of income as income grows, and each additional child adds less than the one before. Some examples, computed from the statutory formula in ORC 3119.021:

Read the $100,000 row across: one child is $11,860.31 a year (11.9% of combined income), two children $17,624.65, three $20,728.92 — the second child adds about $5,764 and the third about $3,104. And compare down the one-child column: at $25,000 of combined income the obligation is 17.5% of income; at $300,000 it is 7.3%. The schedule has columns for up to six children (seven or more uses the six-child column); below the top of this table, the self-support reserve can reduce the amount further for a low-income paying parent.

A worked example

Parent A earns $60,000 and Parent B earns $40,000, with two children, and Parent A pays. Combined income is $100,000, so the schedule obligation is $17,624.65 a year. Parent A’s income share is 60%, so A’s share of the obligation is $10,574.79 a year — $881.23 a month. Now add the children’s real costs: a $2,400-a-year health insurance premium and $6,000 a year of work-related childcare, both paid by Parent B. The $8,400 cost pool is split the same way — A owes 60% of it, $5,040 — and because B already pays those costs directly, they are added to A’s order rather than credited back. The estimate becomes $15,614.79 a year, or $1,301.23 a month. If instead Parent A paid the premium and childcare directly, A would be credited dollar-for-dollar for them and the order would drop accordingly.

How to use this estimator

Step 1 — enter both parents’ gross annual incomes, from all sources (the guideline starts from gross, not take-home, pay).

Step 2 — say who will pay support, and how many children the order covers.

Step 3 — add the children’s health insurance premium and any work-related childcare, and who pays each — the payer gets credited for costs they pay directly.

Step 4 — if the paying parent has court-ordered overnights, enter the number; 90 or more triggers the 10% parenting-time reduction under ORC 3119.051.

Step 5 — read the monthly and yearly figures and the breakdown underneath: combined income, the schedule amount, the income share, and any credits or reductions.

Common questions

How much is child support in Ohio?

It depends on the parents’ combined gross income and the number of children — there is no single flat amount. The combined guideline obligation at $100,000 of combined income is $11,860.31 a year for one child, $17,624.65 for two, and $20,728.92 for three, and the paying parent owes their income share of that figure, adjusted for health insurance and childcare costs they share. The table above shows how the obligation moves from $25,000 to $300,000 of combined income.

What is the Ohio child support worksheet?

Courts and child support agencies work through a guideline worksheet that follows the same steps this estimator runs: combined gross income, the basic obligation from the statutory schedule in ORC 3119.021, each parent’s income share, then adjustments for health insurance premiums, work-related childcare, the self-support reserve, and parenting time. The worksheet result is the guideline amount; a court can deviate from it only for reasons listed in ORC 3119.23, stated on the record.

Is there a minimum child support order in Ohio?

Yes — $80 a month under ORC 3119.06, raised from $50 in April 2024. It applies when combined income is at or below the schedule’s $8,400 floor, and it interacts with the self-support reserve of $13,780.80: the reserve sliding scale keeps a low-income paying parent from being ordered below subsistence, and a court can order less than the minimum — even $0 — if it finds a reason under that section.

What happens if the paying parent has the children for 90 or more overnights?

ORC 3119.051 requires a 10% reduction in the basic obligation when the paying parent has 90 or more court-ordered overnights a year — 89 overnights gets nothing, 90 triggers the full reduction. Above 90 overnights the court must also consider a further deviation under ORC 3119.231, including explaining any case where it declines to deviate at 147 or more overnights; that discretionary part is not something an estimator can apply for you.

What if our combined income is over $300,000 — or under $8,400?

The statutory schedule stops at $300,000. Above it, ORC 3119.04 has the court set support case by case, but the order cannot be lower than the $300,000 schedule amount unless the court gives reasons — this estimator shows that $300,000 figure. Below $8,400 of combined income, the $80-a-month minimum order applies instead of the schedule.

Does the estimate include cash medical support or the processing charge?

No. Cash medical support — a separate amount set under ORC 3119.302 when a child is not covered by private insurance or Medicaid — is not estimated here, and neither is the child support agency’s 2% processing charge. Both can appear on a real order in addition to the guideline figure.

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